Description
The City of Charlotte’s Corridors of Opportunity program works across six corridors to
- Foster thriving communities for residents and businesses
- Build lasting legacies
- Grow communities equitably
Corridors are vital to the health of Charlotteʼs communities, serving as links that connect people to the resources and businesses they need to live and thrive. In the efforts to uplift these communities, the city has partnered with Business District Organizations (BDOs) within the corridors to strengthen the vitality of neighborhood commercial districts. These place-based organizations establish a collective vision for the district and champion the businesses and stakeholders to create a vibrant, healthy and active place to do business.
Building on the city’s ongoing efforts to support BDOs through the longstanding Business District Organization Grant Program, administered by the city’s Economic Development department, and utilizing a one-time funding opportunity through federal dollars from ARPA (the American Rescue Plan Act), the city intends to streamline and scale the opportunity for corridor-based established and emerging BDOs to receive organization-building and business-supporting services. These pre-selected services are structured around 1) building up the BDO’s organizational capacity and structure, and 2) increasing each organization’s value to the individual businesses and stakeholders within their district.
Program participation is designed based on the individual needs of each BDO is and intended to be conducted in a progressive approach to provide foundational, long-lasting support for the organization. To accomplish this, the City of Charlotte is seeking vendors to provide select services to BDOs within the Corridors of Opportunity. Vendors will be placed into a pre-qualified pool of service providers that participating BDOs will engage to accomplish their capacity building plan.
Applications for the Vendor Pool will open on Monday, April 15 and close on Friday, May 17, at 5p.m. The last day to ask a question with a guaranteed answer is Wednesday, May 8, by noon. You can email your questions to corridorsofopportunity@charlottenc.gov. All questions and answers will be posted in an updated FAQ document.
How will the Vendor Pool Work?
Upon review of qualifications and approval, vendors will be entered into a pool of pre-qualified vendors capable of completing the pre-selected services. The Corridors of Opportunity team will conduct a separate solicitation for emerging and existing BDOs with the six corridors. Participating BDOs will determine which services they need to meet their strategic organizational goals and work with the pre-qualified vendors based on the service scopes and prices included in this application.
The Corridors of Opportunity Core team will help manage the vendor pool but will not necessarily the service selections by the BDOs; it will vary by activity. Activities in which we are seeking vendors are divided into four categories, based on the intended audience: the business district organization or the businesses located in the district:
- BDO Strategic Work: organizational development and strategic work for the BDO itself
- BDO Communications: marketing and communications activities for the BDO itself
- BDO Development: ongoing or one-time development support services for the BDO itself
- Business Support and Development: support services and programs for businesses located in the district. This category of activities is considered a “value-add” for the BDO to provide direct support to their membership in alignment with their strategic plan.
Who can Apply?
It is the city’s goal to identify a wide variety of vendors that can provide the activities and services needed most, based on prior history and engagements with existing BDOs. Any vendor who can convey the ability to complete the services requested is encouraged to submit a quote. Quotes should include per-unit pricing (either hourly rate or per organization). Preference for inclusion in the pre-qualified pool will be given to vendors who have demonstrated experience in providing the selected service and/or program and the ability to provide the services within the program timeframe.
How to Apply
Use the link on this page to submit an application. Include a copy of the quote sheet template to indicate for which services you are submitting. The service and price information provided in the quote sheet document will be used by the city and BDOs to determine overall funding. Read through all the documents on this page before submitting.
Apply for the vendor pool now!
Please create a login to apply at this website. Once you log in, search business district capacity grant vendor pool or contact corridorsofopportunity@charlottenc.gov
Pre-Bid Details
Date: April 25, 2024, 11 a.m. - noon
Location: The Corridors of Opportunity team will be hosting a question-and-answer webinar on April 25 at 11 a.m. You must register for the webinar to get a virtual meeting link.
Instructions: Register here
Submit questions: You may submit questions prior to the event by emailing corridorsofopportunity@charlottenc.gov.
Attachments
Grant Overview(PDF, 2MB)
Vendor Pool Worksheet(XLSX, 12KB)
RFQ Outline(PDF, 329KB)
FAQs for Service Vendor Pool(PDF, 180KB)